Gun sight



EAR 3 RGO??? F. R. PALMER Jan. 31, 1961 GUN SIGHT vFiled April 15, 1959 INVENTOR. Frank R'. Palmer ATTORNEY United States Patent GUN SIGHT Frank R. Palmer, 1201 Reading Blvd., Wyomissing, Pa.

Filed Apr. 13, 1959, Ser. No. 805,781

7 Claims. (Cl. 33-47) This invention relates to a sighting device for firearms and, more particularly, to a front gun sight for shotguns and similar firearms.

In shooting a shotgun at moving targets, it is very desirable for the shooter to have both eyes open to more easily follow the targets. However, one difliculty arising when both eyes are focused on a target is that the gunner sees two front sights on his gun, therefore it is easy to become confused and cover the target with the wrong sight, particularly since things happen very fast. The shooter must line up his gun, find the target, follow it with the sight, and pull the trigger very rapidly.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel gun sight which eliminates the above named disadvantages and which will insure sighting only with the proper eye, as well as forcing the sighting eye into proper sighting position.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a gun sight which will blank the non-sighting or oif eye (usually the left eye) so that it will not see the front sight of the shotgun and which forces the sighting eye (usually the right eye) into proper sighting position, that is, close to the comb of the shotgun and in axial alignment with the sighting tube so that proper aim results. While the sighting eye is the right eye for right handed gunners, it is the left eye for left handed gunners.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel gun sight which may be either added as an auxiliary attachment to the gun or built-in originally as a component part of the shotgun so as to insure accuracy in shooting as well as to facilitate shooting at a fast moving target.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a gun sighting device which is of relatively simple and inexpensive construction.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become more apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a double-barrel shotgun equipped with a novel gun sight embodying the principles of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a single barrel shotgun equipped with a gun sight embodying the principles of my invention;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken along line III-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, vertical cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken along line V-V of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged, longitudinal, cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing a modified form of gun sight applicable either to a single or double barrel shotgun.

Referring mort particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawing, numeral 1 denotes the barrel of a double-barrel shotgun and numeral 2 denotes the front sight thereof located centrally between the two barrels as shown more clearly in Fig. 3.

Patented Jan. 31, 1961 In accordance with the present invention, I provide a long tube 3, such as one of the order of 7 or 8 inches long, and mount it centrally on the double barrel in alignment with and behind sight 2. Tube 3 may be metal, such as aluminum or steel, or of plastic or other suitable material. In some instances the tube may be other than circular in cross section. The tube may be open at the top to form a channel, in which instance it would serve only one of the purposes of the invention, namely, to block the off eye, and thus be partially effective. The tube should be of relatively small diameter and of uniform diameter. Tube 3 must be sufficiently long or so constructed at its front portion that it will completely blank the off (non-sighting) eye so that it cannot see the front sight 2. Tube 3' must be of sutficiently small diameter, for example, less than inch and me ferably of the order of A; inch inside diameter, so as to force the right or sighting eye into proper sighting position, that is, close to the comb of the gun and in axial alignment with tube 3, otherwise that eye cannot see the front sight either. Although not indispensable, in most instances it is desirable that front sight 2 of the gun have high visibility. A suitable manner of imparting visibility is to provide a glow worm sight which is an orange colored, translucent plastic material that gathers day-Y light and conducts it through the tube 3 so that it glows in a bright orange color. Presumably, a highly reflective sight or any other sight of high visibility would also be suitable. The front sight can advantageously be of sufiicient luminosity to project sutficient light through the tube to completely fill the rear end thereof with light. The interior wall 5 of tube 3 should be blackened or otherwise made non-reflective so as to suppress reflection whereby the non-sighting or off eye cannot see the luminosity projected down the tube. Otherwise, the glow from the sight would be transmitted to the rear end of the tube and be observable obliquely by the off eye.

As viewed by the sighting eye, the illuminated sight 2. appears as being inside the tube 3. Instead of seeing a silhouetted front sight at the far end of the tube, only the illuminated rear orifice of the tube is seen. In other words, the rear end of the tube becomes the front sighting objective for the sighting eye. It has the appearance of a luminous disc located at the rear end portion of the tube and completely filling the inside diameter 4 of the tube.

Figs. 2, 5 and 6 show a modification of the shotgun illustrating a single barrel 1a provided with a sight 2a and a tube 3a embodying the principles of the invention. The interior surface 4a is preferably blackened and the sight 2a is preferably of the glow worm type or other luminous type.

Fig. 7 shows a further modification wherein the front portion of the sighting tube 3b is cut open at the top so as to form a short channel of U-shaped cross section in which is located the sight 2b, so as to further insure blanking of the off eye and to admit light through the top for added luminosity of the front sight. Of course, the tubes 3 and 3a of Fig. 1 may likewise be extended so as to form a short, front U-shaped cradle in which is located the respective sights 2 and 2a to further insure blanking of the off eye. However, such extension need not necessarily be an integral part of the tube but can be formed as a separate component to serve the same purpose, namely to admit top light and blank the off eye.

In the various modifications of the gun sighting tube, if desired, the rear end of gun sights or tubes may be adjusted laterally or at least vertically by any well known adjusting means to permit the gun to be used selectively for field or trap shooting. Vertical adjustment of the 3 sight would in efiect compensate for the drop in the gun stock. Elevating the rear of the sighting tube would tend to make the gun shoot high.

The present invention is useful not only for shotguns but other types of guns, even for hand guns, such as, revolvers, since they are often used for fast shooting at moving targets.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an eflicient gun sight which is particularly suitable for use on a shotgun to enable the shooter to keep both eyes open at all times and at the same time prevent the possibility of seeing the sight by means of the non-sighting or off eye, and which gun sight requires the shooter to place his sighting or shooting eye in proper position, that is, close to the stock and substantially in alignment with the axis of the sighting tube so as to insure accuracy in aim, therefore which insures more successful shooting of game or other targets; furthermore, I have provided an auxiliary or permanent type of gun sight which is relatively simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture and which may be easily and quickly applied to existing shotguns.

While I have illustrated and described several embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that these are by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A gun comprising a gun stock and an elongated barrel, front sight means comprising a brilliant sight positioned on top of the front end portion of said barrel, and an elongated tube of less than /4 inch inside diameter extending along the top, front portion, only, of said barrel, coaxially of the sighting line of said gun, said brilliant sight blocking the front end of said tube so that the target is not visible therethrough, said tube having an inner surface which is substantially non-reflective and the tube being of a length which is less than half the length of said barrel, but being sufiiciently long so as to require the shooter to place his shooting eye close to said gun stock in proper sighting position for viewing said sight axially through said tube only by the sighting eye, whereby said sight appears as being at the rear end of said tube and 4 whereby the non-sighting eye of the shooter is blanked off from view of the sight by said tube to assure proper aim at the target.

2. A gun as recited in claim 1 wherein said tube has a length of the order of 7 inches and an inside diameter of the order of inch.

3. A gun as recited in claim 1 wherein said sight is in the form of a glow worm sight to provide sufiicient luminosity to fill the rear end of the tube with light so that the rear end of the tube becomes the front sighting objective for the sighting eye.

4. A gun as recited in claim 1 wherein said barrel is in the form of a double-barrel and wherein said sight and tube are positioned centrally on top of said doublebarrel.

5. A gun as recited in claim 1 wherein said tube has a front extension of U-shape cross-section throughout its length, surrounding said sight and which is open at the top so as to admit light to illuminate the sight, said extension further blanking the non-sighting eye from viewing the sight.

6. A tubular front sight for a fire arm comprising a thin walled tube having an inside diameter of less than A inch and of the order of inch and long enough so that both of the shooters eyes cannot see through the tube at the same time when sighting the fire arm, said tube having its inside surface substantially non-reflective, the ends of said tube being open, a brilliant element positioned immediately in front of said tube so as to block the view through the front end by the shooter's eye that is axially aligned with the tube.

7. A tubular front sight for a fire arm as recited in claim 6 together with adjusting means at the rear end of the tube to permit vertical adjustment within a distance approximating the inner diameter of the tube.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 41,162 Martin Jan. 5, 1864 1,089,086 Sikes Mar. 3, 1914 1,433,422 Spencer Oct. 24, 1922 2,799,936 Luebkeman July 23, 1957 

